Tsao: An open letter to parents in Kinston

Published: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 at 12:10 AM.

“With the district lines that are drawn and where we live,” my friend recalls you saying, “he would have gone to Northwest, Rochelle and Kinston High. You know why I don’t want to send him there.”

Do I? Should I, my friend or the rest of your table know why you wouldn’t want your child going to those schools?

I’m going to take a shot in the dark here and say it was probably race-related. I know that’s a heavy card to play, but it’s no secret that those three schools, especially the latter two, have student populations that are predominately African-American. I would know since I went to all three of the schools you mentioned.

That’s right, me — a student at one of the highest globally ranked universities — who was featured recently in this same newspaper for making it on the Dean’s List both semesters of my freshmen year, went to Northwest Elementary, Rochelle Middle and Kinston High School.

As a matter of fact, many of my friends who went to those same three schools are off at other prestigious colleges and universities, such as ECU, N.C. State, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Wilmington, and Winston-Salem State. All of them come from very different home lives and ethnic backgrounds, mind you.

Actually, that’s one of the things I have always felt blessed about going to public school — the diversity of my friends. It was never an issue that my classmates were black, white, Hispanic, mixed or anything else they identify themselves as. We knew we were people, albeit different people, but people who loved to learn and strived to be great.

So this is an open letter to the parents setting their child up for mediocrity. Are you sure you know why you don’t want to send him to those schools? Have you really thought out that perhaps it’s not the schools that are wrong for your son, but your beliefs that you are imposing on your son that are wrong for those schools?

Hold on a second — that was a bit rude of me. Let me preface this a bit more so that you know exactly who you are and why your child is bound for mediocrity.

Recently, a friend was working at a local restaurant and overheard a conversation that one of the tables was having. I’m referring to a specific conversation, but it is a conversation that is held by many parents all over Lenoir County.

My friend said you somehow got on the topic of where you were sending your child to school, in which you announced was going to be the local private school, one of the finest in the region.

Now I am in no way putting down private educational institutions — after all, I go to one of the biggest and most expensive (albeit very diverse) private universities in America: New York University. In fact, my two older brothers went to the local private school as well and they’re off doing great things.

But instead of saying all of the opportunities that this private school can offer your son — such as the diverse AP courses taught, or the wide variety of sports and other extracurriculars he could have partaken in, you chose to say why the public schools he would have gone to were a “worse” choice.

Well, sort of.

“With the district lines that are drawn and where we live,” my friend recalls you saying, “he would have gone to Northwest, Rochelle and Kinston High. You know why I don’t want to send him there.”

Do I? Should I, my friend or the rest of your table know why you wouldn’t want your child going to those schools?

I’m going to take a shot in the dark here and say it was probably race-related. I know that’s a heavy card to play, but it’s no secret that those three schools, especially the latter two, have student populations that are predominately African-American. I would know since I went to all three of the schools you mentioned.

That’s right, me — a student at one of the highest globally ranked universities — who was featured recently in this same newspaper for making it on the Dean’s List both semesters of my freshmen year, went to Northwest Elementary, Rochelle Middle and Kinston High School.

As a matter of fact, many of my friends who went to those same three schools are off at other prestigious colleges and universities, such as ECU, N.C. State, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Wilmington, and Winston-Salem State. All of them come from very different home lives and ethnic backgrounds, mind you.

Actually, that’s one of the things I have always felt blessed about going to public school — the diversity of my friends. It was never an issue that my classmates were black, white, Hispanic, mixed or anything else they identify themselves as. We knew we were people, albeit different people, but people who loved to learn and strived to be great.

So this is an open letter to the parents setting their child up for mediocrity. Are you sure you know why you don’t want to send him to those schools? Have you really thought out that perhaps it’s not the schools that are wrong for your son, but your beliefs that you are imposing on your son that are wrong for those schools?

I think that it’s best if you kept your disgusting views out of the public school system. We don’t need any kind of elitist, bigoted attitudes spreading towards the bright students coming into Northwest, Rochelle, Kinston High, or any other schools you deem “unfit” of providing a great education.

Tell your child the importance of a good education. Tell him or her about the wisdom and perspective you can gain from diversity.

Or else have fun raising a child destined for mediocrity — but I wish you both the best.

Tommy Tsao is a native to Kinston, but currently studying Media and Communications at New York University. You can contact him at tct255@nyu.edu or tweet at him @Tsaoster_.An open letter to parents in Kinston

The Free Press guest columnist feature publishes every other Wednesday. Would you like to be considered as a guest columnist? If so, contact Editor Bryan Hanks at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com.